This is the season when everyone starts to look at their lawns and decides that now is the time to take make the first cut.
But if like many of you out there you find parts thatched over with dead grass or patches of moss, you may well need to scarify – to take out the dead stuff and remove the moss.
You need to take action after the first light trim – just enough to ‘knock the whiskers off.’
Years ago this used to be a tiring job, pulling the lot out with a tined rake, but today the task is made much easier with a mechanical scarifier.
Scarifiers have rotating spikes which scratch out the dead grasses and moss so that light and rain can penetrate the roots of the grass.
This means the grass plants will grow much more healthily and while you may well be worried that you have left your lawn looking a terrible mess, healthy grass will quickly grow back leaving the lawn much more lush and verdant.
We used an Einhell BG-SC 2240P Petrol Lawn Scarifier, but see our site for a huge selection from small electrically powered ones to heavy duty petrol ones suitable for professional use.
Start with the machine at its highest setting and move a couple of yards to check the depth to which the machine is working.
Too high and there will be little effect; too low and the scarifying will be too vicious.
When you are happy you have the correct height, move up and down in straight lines but check the collection box often.
In our demonstration we needed to stop every 15 yards or so to empty the box, but it was a lawn which had not been scarified for 12 years or more and was in pretty bad condition!
You may well also find that it will be necessary to repeat the process across the lawn to make a proper job of it.
Unless the lawn is like a bowling green, the scarifier will tend to eat in more deeply to the high areas, but don’t worry.
Once finished and with all the rubbish taken away you should move over the more severely scarred areas scattering grass seed and avoid mowing for a week or so depending on the rate of growth.
The more severe the scarifying the more seed you need to scatter.
This is also the correct time to apply lawn fertilisers to promote Spring growth.
For many of you scarifying might be a new procedure, but don’t worry.
It will not look very pretty (see our pictures) but in the longer term you will have a much healthier lawn the envy of your neighbours.
You need to scarify every year in the Spring as the grass starts to grow and also in the autumn to remove dead or dying shoots.
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Why scarify? We explain the process and the benefits
This is the season when everyone starts to look at their lawns and decides that now is the time to take make the first cut.
You need to take action after the first light trim – just enough to ‘knock the whiskers off.’
Start with the machine at its highest setting and move a couple of yards to check the depth to which the machine is working.
You may well also find that it will be necessary to repeat the process across the lawn to make a proper job of it.
But if like many of you out there you find parts thatched over with dead grass or patches of moss, you may well need to scarify – to take out the dead stuff and remove the moss.
Years ago this used to be a tiring job, pulling the lot out with a tined rake, but today the task is made much easier with a mechanical scarifier.
Scarifiers have rotating spikes which scratch out the dead grasses and moss so that light and rain can penetrate the roots of the grass.
This means the grass plants will grow much more healthily and while you may well be worried that you have left your lawn looking a terrible mess, healthy grass will quickly grow back leaving the lawn much more lush and verdant.
We used an Einhell BG-SC 2240P Petrol Lawn Scarifier, but see our site for a huge selection from small electrically powered ones to heavy duty petrol ones suitable for professional use.
Too high and there will be little effect; too low and the scarifying will be too vicious.
When you are happy you have the correct height, move up and down in straight lines but check the collection box often.
In our demonstration we needed to stop every 15 yards or so to empty the box, but it was a lawn which had not been scarified for 12 years or more and was in pretty bad condition!
Unless the lawn is like a bowling green, the scarifier will tend to eat in more deeply to the high areas, but don’t worry.
Once finished and with all the rubbish taken away you should move over the more severely scarred areas scattering grass seed and avoid mowing for a week or so depending on the rate of growth.
The more severe the scarifying the more seed you need to scatter.
This is also the correct time to apply lawn fertilisers to promote Spring growth.
For many of you scarifying might be a new procedure, but don’t worry.
It will not look very pretty (see our pictures) but in the longer term you will have a much healthier lawn the envy of your neighbours.
You need to scarify every year in the Spring as the grass starts to grow and also in the autumn to remove dead or dying shoots.